The Chronicles of Amber

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Image:Nine Princes of Amber.jpg The Chronicles of Amber is a popular fantasy series by Roger Zelazny. It has inspired a roleplaying game, and a video game.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the Amber stories, Amber and the Courts of Chaos are the only two true worlds; all others, including our Earth, are but "shadows" of the tension between them. Royals of Amber (and in the second series, the equivalent Chaos nobility) can freely travel through the shadows and alter them, but they cannot alter Amber itself.

Contents

The Chronicles

The Corwin Cycle

The first Chronicles of Amber were written by Zelazny as a series of five novels. The books are narrated by Corwin (though one chapter is told to Corwin by Random), who wakes up in a hospital in New York from a coma with amnesia, only to discover that he is a scion of the ruling family of Amber. He is taken by his brother to walk the Pattern, a labyrinth inscribed in the dungeons of Castle Amber which gives the multiverse its order. Walking the Pattern restores Corwin's memory and his powers to travel through shadow. He attempts to conquer Amber, which is currently ruled by his elder brother Eric, but fails and is blinded and imprisoned. Blindness removes his two possible means of escape; walking through shadow, or using the Trumps (aka "major arcana") of a tarot deck which allows communication between members of his family. He regrows his eyes, and thanks to a chance encounter with Dworkin Barimen, the mad sorceror who created the Pattern, he escapes. He discovers a threat to Amber, a black road which runs across universes from the Courts of Chaos to Amber, created by damage done to the Pattern by his brother, Brand. The chronicles then follow Corwin's attempts to recapture Amber and destroy the Black Road.

The books are:

The Merlin Cycle

The next five novels focus on Merlin, who has been studying Computer Science while constructing an Artificial Intelligence powered by the Trumps, and wondering what has become of his missing father, Corwin. Before he leaves, he wants to find out who has been trying to kill him every April 30th and why they failed. He discovers his ex-girlfriend killed by beasts from another shadow, then finds that his best friend Luke is in fact the son of Brand and was responsible for the early attempts on his life. After a lot of political maneuvering, Luke persuades Merlin to rescue his mother, Jasra, who (it turns out) has been captured by Merlin's ex-girlfriend, who faked her own death and hooked up with Merlin's younger half-brother Jurt, who has acquired godlike powers and seeks to kill Merlin. This plot is almost resolved, when (in the fourth book) the story changes. It is revealed that the Pattern, and its chaotic counterpart the Logrus, are sentient, and wish Merlin to take sides and tip the balance of the multiverse towards Order or Chaos (respectively).

These stories are held by some to be of a lower quality than the first five, revolving around the acquisition of ever more powerful artifacts, each of which negates the drawbacks of the last[1].

The first ten novels have also been released in a single volume called The Great Book of Amber.

Short stories

For the limited 1985 edition of Trumps of Doom, Zelazny wrote a prologue which details Merlin's passage through the Logrus.

After completing the Merlin Cycle, Zelazny wrote five Amber short stories, in which he begins to tease the threads of the story into a new configuration. The author died shortly after completing the fifth short story of this small series. These short stories have been collected in Manna from Heaven (2003).

The five stories are linked, with The Shroudling and the Guisel chronologically the first, followed by Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains, and the others in the sequence they were written. However, suggested reading orders differ, with Manna from Heaven placing The Shroudling and the Guisel last as it explains much of the mysteries in the stories set after it. Shroudling was written after Blue Horse but published before it[2].

The Dawn of Amber

The Dawn of Amber series by John Gregory Betancourt started to be published in 2002. Betancourt's series tells the story of Corwin's father Oberon. It is set several centuries before Nine Princes in Amber and includes, thus far:

These novels were authorized by the Zelazny estate; however, that decision has been criticized by several acquaintances of Mr. Zelazny, including the writers George R.R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams and Neil Gaiman. These critics assert that Roger Zelazny was quite averse to the idea of a "shared" Amber setting, and that he had explicitly stated, in no uncertain terms, that he did not want any other writers writing about Amber.[3].

That the series focuses on Oberon has disappointed many Amber fans who, after reading the Merlin series and realizing that Zelazny almost certainly was planning another series to wrap up the story that was, in effect, left hanging, were hoping for just that wrap-up. The Dawn of Amber series perhaps wisely did not pick up where the Merlin series left off, given some fans' rather negative response to Betancourt's writing style and lack of characterization.

In addition, the series seems to contradict some ideas in Amber. Shadow existed before the Pattern, for example, which is a direct contradiction to the original ten books. Betancourt answered some of these concerns in an interview[4].

Other works

There are two guides to Amber:

  • Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber by Roger Zelazny and Neil Randall (1988)
  • The Complete Amber Sourcebook by Theodore Krulik (1996)

There are two books similar in concept to the Choose Your Own Adventure series, for the Combat Command series, by Neil Randall:

  • Seven No-Trump (1988)
  • The Black Road War (1988)

The Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game by Erick Wujcik:

  • Amber Diceless Role-playing (1991)
  • Shadow Knight (1995)

Two three part comic adpations of Nine Princes in Amber and The Guns of Avalon by Terry Bisson (1996)[5]

Sunset Productions did audio versions of Roger reading the novels (except where noted) and produced them with sound effects. Sunset was bought out by Americana Publishing in 2002.[6]

  1. Nine Princes in Amber (abridged February 1992, unabridged April 1998)
  2. The Guns of Avalon (abridged February 1992, unabridged November 1998)
  3. Sign of the Unicorn (abridged September 1992, unabridged December 1998)
  4. The Hand of Oberon (abridged October 1992, unabridged 1999) (last portion of the unabridged version read by Bob Watson)
  5. The Courts of Chaos (abridged only January 1993, unsure of unabridged date)
  6. Trumps of Doom (abridged April 1993, unsure of unabridged date)
  7. Blood of Amber (abridged only) (July 1993)
  8. Sign of Chaos (abridged only) (November 1994)
  9. Knight of Shadows (abridged only) (October 1996)
  10. Prince of Chaos (abridged only) (read by Bruce Watson) (December 1998)

[1]

The Amber Multiverse

The series is based on the concept of parallel worlds, domination over them being fought between the kingdoms at the extreme ends of Shadow � Amber, the one true world of Order, and the Courts of Chaos. Amberites of royal blood--those descended from Oberon (and ultimately his parents, Dworkin, formerly of the Courts of Chaos, and the Unicorn of Order herself)--are able to "walk in Shadow," mentally willing changes to occur around them. These changes are, in effect, representative of the Shadow-walker passing through different realities. There are apparently infinite realities, either found by the Shadow-walker locating such worlds or by creating them (we're never sure; neither are the characters).

Within this multiverse, Zelazny deals with some interesting philosophical concepts about the nature of existence, compares and contrasts the ideas of Order and Chaos, and plays with the laws of physics � they can differ from Shadow to Shadow; for instance, gunpowder does not ignite in Amber, which is why they all tote swords around. Other Shadows have green skies and blue suns, you can find cities of glass and buy Kentucki Fried Lizzard Partes, and worlds out of our own fiction can come to life.

The cast of characters

Main article: List of characters in the Chronicles of Amber

Ultimately, Amber focuses on a dysfunctional family that is somehow at the center of a cosmic war between many powers. Nine princes and four princesses of Amber, including Prince Corwin as narrator of the first book series, try to deal with the disappearance of Oberon, their father, and an apparent need for succession of the throne. Nobody trusts anyone, everyone appears to be ready to backstab anyone else (often literally), and everyone seems genuinely interested in only one thing: himself or herself.

In this respect, the Amber series could perhaps be best described as a philosophical, metaphysical, magical, mystical, fantasy soap opera. It has all those things, all wrapped around a cast of characters who are conniving, paranoid, dysfunctional, and often heartless.

All of the princes and princesses of Amber have super-human strength and regenerative capabilities. For example, two of them were able to pick up a car that had gone into a ditch and place it back on the road, and one was able to regenerate his eyes after they had been burned out.

The Pattern and the Logrus

At the two poles of existence are the symbols of Order and Chaos - The Pattern and The Logrus. Each takes the form of a maze or labyrinth which, when negotiated, gives a person the ability to walk in shadow - across the different possible universes. Whereas the Pattern is a static, two-dimensional maze, the Logrus can be described as a shifting, three-dimensional obstacle course.

The Trumps

Nearly all of Corwin's relatives carry a deck of Tarot cards, with a key alteration: each family member is on one of the Trumps. Each Trump, when concentrated upon by another family member, allows instant communication across the dimensions, and if both parties are willing, instant travel.

Order vs. Chaos

In the Merlin cycle, strife continues in Amber and the Courts of Chaos, but the focus seems to be on a timeless battle between the superpowers of Order and Chaos, the Unicorn and the Serpent. All the while, the implication seems to be that there is really little difference between Order and Chaos; both are ways we describe such things.

Inspirations

As inspirations for the Chronicles of Amber go, a compelling argument can be made for the 1946 novel by Henry Kuttner (and most likely C. L. Moore, his wife and unusually symbiotic collaborator) called The Dark World. Zelazny himself (in issue #5 of Amberzine, published by Phage Press), is quoted as saying,

"...the Kuttner story which most impressed me in those most impressionable days was his short novel The Dark World. I returned to it time and time, reading it over and over again, drawn by its colorful, semi-mythic characters and strong action. ...looking back, Kuttner and Moore--and, specifically, the Dark World--were doubtless a general influence on my development as a writer. As for their specific influences--particularly on my Amber series--I never thought about it until Jane Lindskold started digging around and began pointing things out to me."

Reading the hard-to-find Kuttner (and Moore) novel, readers are bound to find similarities in theme and in specific instances: Some character names are common to both works, and they share the fantasy literary device of moving a present day, realistic character from the familiar world into a fantastical, alternate reality world, exposing the character to this shift as the reader experiences it.

Some believe the series was inspired by [[Philip Jos� Farmer]]'s World of Tiers series. The overall theme of both series is the same: an immensely powerful family in a deadly rivalry over the fate of multiple universes. The plot of the first book in each series is nearly identical. Zelazny also wrote an admiring introduction to A Private Cosmos, the third Tiers book.

More generally, the series draws on many inspirations, especially Celtic and Norse mythology. The Merlin Cycle also features the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Allusions to Shakespeare

Throughout the Chronicles, Zelazny alludes extensively to plays by William Shakespeare. They include:

  • Oberon, the King of Amber, is the King of the Fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  • "Ill-met by moonlight," Deirdre's response to her rescue in Nine Princes in Amber (chapter 4): "Well met by moonlight, proud Titania," said by Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  • "To sleep, perchance to dream... Yeah, there's a thing that rubs," Corwin muses in Nine Princes in Amber (chapter 6). "To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub," from the To be, or not to be soliloquy in Hamlet.
  • When he receives Eric's offer of peace in The Guns of Avalon, Corwin muses "...I believe you, never doubt it, for we are all of us honorable men" (chapter 8). In Marc Antony's funeral oration in Julius Caesar, he says, "For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men."
  • "So Childe Random to the dark tower came," Random recounts in his story of how he tried to rescue Brand. At the end of Act IV of King Lear, Edgar, disguised as the Poor Tom, the crazy beggar, babbles "Child Rowland to the dark tower came," an allusion itself to the fairy tale of Childe Rowland.
  • "Good night, sweet Prince," Brand says to Benedict in The Hand of Oberon (chapter 13). These are the words that Horatio speaks at the death of Hamlet.
  • After watching his "dream" from Tir-na Nog'th play out in Amber in The Courts of Chaos (chapter 1), Corwin muses, "I looked back once to the empty place where my dream had come true. Such is the stuff." He alludes to Act IV, scene 1 of The Tempest, where, after causing spirits he has summoned to disappear, Prospero delivers the famous speech that includes the line "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / Is rounded by a sleep."
  • Corwin, when describing the royal family to Ganelon in Sign of the Unicorn, says that Oberon had two other sons with Benedict's mother Cymnea, the first being Osric, who shares his name with a courtier in Hamlet.
  • In addition, there are greater thematic allusions in the Chronicles, mostly to Hamlet. Corwin describes himself at the beginning of The Courts of Chaos as the "mad prince" of Amber, drawing a clear parallel between himself and the mad prince of Denmark. In addition, Corwin is contacted by the "ghost" of Oberon several times (before realizing that Oberon still lives), an obvious parallel to the plot of Hamlet. When dining with Lorraine, Corwin even refers to the attempted Trump contact by Oberon as a message from his "father's ghost."

References

  1. ^ A Gadget Too Far bu David Langford
  2. ^ Uncollected Amber Stories at zelazny.corrupt.net
  3. ^ Gaiman statement at zelazny.corrupt.net
  4. ^ Betancourt interview at sfsite.com
  5. ^ Amber Comics at zelazny.corrupt.net
  6. ^ Alberquerque Biz Journal

External links

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References

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